Oil and its products are essential to our present day existence. Its supply is not limitless. Thus it is important that we handle, protect, conserve, and use oil wisely.
Oil is transported around the earth in vessels and pipelines. Vessels carry large amounts of oil across oceans, seas, and through inland rivers and waterways. Pipelines carry oil under water from shore to shore and from superports to shore. Presently both provide our best and most efficient means of transporting oil across and through water.
Unfortunately, these vessels and pipelines are not perfect, nor are the people who control them. Occasionally a mishap occurs where a vessel or pipeline fails, causing oil spills and fires.
For instance, on Mar. 24, 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska. That accident caused the hull to rupture, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into the Sound. It caused an environmental disaster whose effects may never be totally overcome.
In April, 1990, the Megaborg ran aground in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the Texas coast. The ship spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf and caught on fire. Again, such a disaster has caused enormous environmental problems.
In February, 1991, an anchor from the Presidente Rivera punctured an oil pipeline in the Pacific, just off the California coast. That accident again caused hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil to pollute the water and ruin miles of shoreline in southern California.
A large amount of oil is obtained by drilling operations conducted on offshore platforms. Those operations can be very hazardous to the persons working the rig as well as to the environment. For instance, drilling operations by themselves are hazardous because of the flammability of oil and underground pressures encountered when drilling. Such an environment may and has caused explosions and fires.
Another hazard of offshore drilling is caused by the weather. Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and storms in the North Sea create havoc on offshore platforms, putting both workers and the platforms in danger. These hazards have caused numerous deaths, injuries, oil spills and fires throughout the world.
Oil spills and fires have caused enormous environmental problems whose effects can take years if not decades to cure. Presently available means for controlling spills, such as buoys, vacuum ships and fire ships, can be helpful. However, they are limited in ability and if not implemented quickly are greatly inefficient. Also, nothing presently available is capable of totally isolating and containing these disasters. Thus, the need exists to better handle the potential disasters caused by oil exploration, production, and transportation.
Presently there are laws preventing the shipping of certain cargoes in the same vessel. For instance, there are prohibitions against shipping foodstuffs on the same vessel with chemical fertilizers, even though the cargoes are kept in isolated sections of the ship.
These regulations can cause several problems. For example, a ship may have to wait at port to be loaded with only specific types of cargo which can cause costly time delays. However, if it were capable of carrying all sorts of cargo, it is more likely that it would be in and out of port more quickly.
Another problem arises where the ship cannot be fully loaded. For instance, if a ship is capable of handling more cargo than is available at the port, it will have to make at least part of its voyage without being fully loaded. Thus, the need exists to handle oceangoing cargoes more efficiently.
This background section is intended to discuss some of the problems associated with the production handling of oil in oceangoing vessels and pipelines. It is not meant to be exhaustive of those problems but to show that there is a need for improvement.